January - March, 2003

Seniors' Health

One hundred years young
Mercy Villa residents celebrate centenarian status as facility turns 50

Mercy Villa celebrated 50 years of operation last year. Now, St. John’s skilled nursing facility is celebrating five residents’ statuses as centenarians.
Elsie Murray, 106; Mable Reberry, 105; Bessie Wyatt, 102; Alma Shydlowski, 100 and Ruth Compton, 100 are Mercy Villa’s five shining stars. Social Worker Dixie Alexander says that this is one of the few times Mercy Villa has had this many 100-year-old residents.
“These women are really interesting to talk with because they have such wonderful stories,” Alexander says. “If you just sit down and talk with them they will tell you all about the wars they have lived through, the Depression and their experiences with Native Americans.”
Ruth remembers when she was a young girl there were no concrete walkways and the best way to travel was by train. She remembers going into town and seeing Native Americans sitting on the wooden porches in front of the stores wrapped in blankets with feathers in their hair.
“Oklahoma wasn’t even a state at that time,” Ruth says.
While these women have lived through many different generations, moving into the technology age is probably the most unique.
“They have stayed engaged with what family they have left by writing letters and some of them have e-mail. They don’t really understand the concept, but they look at it as a letter,” Alexander says.
Ruth gets up and walks the entire facility every day because she says she has to “keep moving.”
“I have to have some exercise. I just get out and walk up the first lane and then another,” Ruth says. “I usually go to the chapel every afternoon.”
Ruth says on her 100th birthday, she received a bag of candy and she had one piece and gave the rest to a little girl who comes to see her because “it is just not good to eat too much sweets.”
Nursing Director Judy Tiede, RNC, says living a longer-than-average life can be difficult, not just because of health reasons, but for personal ones as well.
“Sometimes that is their biggest fear is that they will out live their families and will be here alone,” Tiede says. “We are their family. They get a lot of family support from the family that are still here, but we fill in the gaps the rest of the time.”
Mercy Villa Administrator Don Swafford says it is such a warm feeling to interact with the life that these women have had. He says it is very inspiring to talk with them and their families.
“Some of their children are in their 80s. Being able to interact with them and hear their stories is almost educating. You get a sense of accomplishment by knowing you are helping them in this stage of their life,” Swafford says. “I think we will begin to see more people living into their hundreds as the medical field continues to grow.”